The prior art of toy and doll design includes mechanisms for increasing the life-like appearance of dolls, such as mechanisms for providing the doll limbs with motion, or providing doll eye motion, etc. U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,289 to Curran et al. discloses mechanism for animating a dollS's facial features, incorporating motor to power jaw, eye and eyelid motion. An eye shifting mechanism for dolls is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,545 to King et al. A pneumatic means for providing eye motion is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,882,631 to Benkoe et al. A doll with blinking eyelids moved by a pendulum is described U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,707 to Sapkus. A rolling doll eye weighted so a s to rotate when the head is tilted is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,059 to Leibowitz. A side-to-side rolling weighted doll eye is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,590,521 to Samo. Other moving doll eye mechanisms are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,550,315 to Samo, 3,462,875 to May, and 3,421,255 to Brudney. A doll with limb and eye movements is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,205 to Kuramochi.
Also included in prior art doll design are dolls which are voice-responsive, such that some doll response, such as movement of limbs, is provided in response to a voice stimulus.
Theories of early child development indicate that the eyes serve as the means for transmitting a mother's loving care and tenderness, and thus the eyes serve as the first means of communication for an infant before language is understood. Through eye contact the infant absorbs parental love and learns to associate eye contact with positive, loving and friendly feelings. Therefore, the eyes communicate love to a child, which lo is a basic need which must be satisfied for normal development.
The ability to socialize is developed by the child as part of the process of exploration, and from the age of one until three or four the child achieves control over his surroundings at a surprising rate. As a social animal, the child loves to speak, and objects around him are used as instruments for social activity, as the child speaks to them, asking them questions, etc. This is considered a play activity, but for children this is reality, as they believe in their toys, and communicate with them as if they were real and alive, through a humanization process. Toys and dolls designed with facial features such as eyes increase the child's recognition and level of familiarity, and these features assist in developing the desire for communication.
As indicated above, prior art doll and toy designs do not adequately address the child's need for voice-responsive communication via the channel recognized by children, the eyes.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a children's doll or toy that assists in child development by enabling for voice-responsive communication Involving eye contact.